CHAPTER II.

BY WHAT MEANS THE ABIPONES POSSESSED THEMSELVES OF HORSES, AND HOW FORMIDABLE THIS ATTAINMENT RENDERED THEM TO THEIR NEIGHBOURS.

History gives no account of the proceedings of the Abipones in the fifteenth century, before they settled in Chaco; but I should imagine that, being at that time, like the other Indians, unfurnished with horses, they passed their lives in ignoble obscurity, more anxious to avoid, than to attack the Spaniards. It appears from the annals of Paraguay, that in the year 1641, they possessed horses, and were become dexterous in the management of them. We read also, that they made war about this time upon the Mataràs, whom, on account of their submission to the Spaniards, they pursued with unrelenting hatred. Moreover the Abipones became formidable to the pedestrian nations on account of their reputation for horsemanship.

But do you ask me how the Abipones first obtained horses? I will tell you what I learnt from an Abipon, an hundred years of age. He informed me that some of his ancestors, before they had obtained these useful animals, used to go privily to the lands belonging to the city of Sta. Fè, and steal a few horses, with some iron knives. They afterwards made use of these horses for the purpose of driving fresh herds from the lands of the Spaniards. It frequently happens that horses, tormented by insects or frightened by tigers, stray to the distance of many leagues. The men appointed to guard the cattle, (if there be any,) are mostly few and unarmed, always timorous, and can easily be slain whilst absent from their huts, or eluded whilst they are sleeping.

In the space of fifty years, an hundred thousand horses were driven from the estates of the Spaniards, by the Abipones. Do not imagine that I have exaggerated the number, for, calculating from conjecture, I should say it exceeded two hundred thousand, and no wonder: for young men of the nation of the Abipones often carried off four thousand horses in one assault, and as they grew in years, they increased their robberies. Cunning and a little sagacity are more requisite than strength. The Calchacuis, after they had afflicted the country about Sta. Fè with reiterated slaughters, were at last reduced to order in one conflict. Those who survived that overthrow were almost all cut off by the small-pox. The miserable remains of this most warlike nation are yet living by the river Carcarañal, and are reckoned at about twenty people. The Abipones settled in the land formerly possessed by the Calchacuis, inheriting not their country alone, but also their hostile disposition towards the Spaniards. They took possession of all the land from the river Plata to the city of Sta. Fè, and from the banks of the Parana and Paraguay to the territories of St. Iago, the Spaniards vainly endeavouring to oppose them, and obliged to part with their ancient station, or maintain it with the loss of their lives. In the eighteenth year of this century, even women might go, without danger, from the city of Sta. Fè, and thence to Cordoba, though it is a journey of many days, even to horse travellers. That all things were safe and out of danger of the enemy may be concluded from the numerous estates of the Spaniards, which are continued all along the roads from the above-mentioned cities, but were afterwards so depopulated by the perpetual hostilities of the Abipones, that the ruins of these dilapidated buildings are now alone to be seen.

The country over which, as their own, the Abipones freely wander, extends an hundred and twenty leagues from North to South, and as many from East to West, in many places. They are divided into hordes, according to the number of the Caciques, and frequently remove their tents, choosing that situation which is rendered most eligible by the season, security, and the opportunity it affords of hunting. Having removed their women, children, and decrepit old men to a place of safety, the rest sallied forth, to plunder the surrounding colonies of the Christians, and always returned laden with heads of Spaniards, and other spoils. The crowd of captives, the droves of horses, and the success of the expedition incited others to the like daring, so that when one party returned, another quickly succeeded. Scarce a month passed in which they did not disturb the Spanish colonies with some hostile attack; and although one place alone was invaded, the whole neighbourhood trembled the more, the safer things appeared. For experience had taught them, that enemies of that kind are never nearer than when they are thought to be at the greatest distance.

It is certainly difficult to understand by what means about a thousand savages (for the whole nation of the Abipones hardly contained more who were able to bear arms) had the power of disturbing an immense province. Unanimous hatred of the Spaniards, craft, tolerance of labour, and the alliance of the Mocobios stood them in the stead of numbers. Barreda, commander at St. Iago, repeatedly affirmed, that were he to hear that all the Abipones had been slain, ten only surviving, he should still judge it necessary to have the watch continued in every part of Paraguay. He therefore thought one tally of Abipones sufficient to distress a whole province. There was no retreat so sequestered that they did not discover, and furiously overrun; no place so remote or well fortified by nature, that they thought impenetrable. They swam across those vast rivers the Parana and Paraguay, even where they are united in one channel, and pleasantly conversing at the same time. They rode over vast precipices, sometimes ascending, and sometimes, which was still more frightful, descending, till they reached the confines of Cordoba and St. Iago, and there, alas! what torrents of blood they caused to flow! Trackless woods full of rushes and thick trees, marshes, and lakes rendered slippery with mud, they crossed with ease. That immense plain of an hundred and fifty leagues, which lies between the banks of the Parana and the Salado, is sometimes flooded to such a degree, that it resembles a vast lake; this happens after long and incessant rain; but when, as is often the case, no rain falls for many months, that immense tract of land is so parched by the burning sky, that the smallest bird would fail to find a drop of water there.

The Abipones, regardless of these impediments, arrived at the dwellings of the Spaniards, whom they intended to kill or rob, by a journey of many days, sometimes having to pass through water, at others entirely destitute of it. I have frequently attempted the journey, both with Spaniards and Abipones, who have now laid aside their former enmity: the latter scorned to turn back, swearing that they might easily cross the deepest marshes on horseback, whilst the others declared them impassable. None of the Abipones would shrink from a journey of three hundred leagues or more, were he attracted by the hope of richer booty, or greater military glory; for neither the difficulty of the roads, nor the distance of the places, are sufficient to deter them.

As many nations worship the crocodile, the snake, and the ape, as divinities, the Abipones would adore their horses, if idolatry prevailed amongst them. Nor is it unreasonable in them to set a high value upon horses, by the use of which they have become formidable and destructive to the Spanish colonists. The pedestrian savages, though they may entertain the same wish of annoying the Spaniards, have not the same opportunity, and consequently employ their arms more for their own defence than for the offence of the Spaniards. I shall now proceed to relate, individually, the slaughters committed in various parts of the province.